The combination of bacteria and food causes acids to form which can slowly dissolve the teeth. If this happens, a filling may be needed. If it is left untreated, the tooth may decay further and need to be removed. Encourage your children to take care of their teeth properly. Click here and read the full article about preventing caries in children!

Promoting good dental hygiene habits in children can not only prevent caries while they are little and still have their milk teeth but will also set them up for life with healthy teeth. Things we learn when we are children become so ingrained that we never forget them – therefore the child who brushes their teeth properly twice a day becomes the adult who does the same, thereby keeping their mouth healthy. Good eating habits are also included in any plan to keep a child’s teeth healthy and these also will go with the child into adulthood.

It’s never too early to brush

When children are tiny and only have one or two teeth it may seem too soon to start brushing, but the sooner the better, for two reasons. Firstly, it helps keep a parent in touch with what is happening in the child’s mouth – oral thrush can be a problem with babies and is painful if missed in the early stages, so the involvement in cleaning the tooth or teeth is a good way of watching for this. Secondly, it gets the child used to the feel of a brush in the mouth. Sometimes when parents leave tooth brushing until later, the toddler won’t tolerate the brush and then there is yet another battle to be joined in the terrible twos and threes. There are many baby toothbrushes on sale and you can even get wipes to use before even one tooth has emerged. When a baby is teething, using a chewable brush is a great way of cleaning the teeth that are already through whilst relieving sore gums.

Ration the sweeties!

Children are cuties, it has to be said, and when they ask for sweets they are hard to resist. Buying sweets made with natural ingredients is a good start, but even fruit sugars can be bad for teeth because they create acidic combinations with the natural mouth flora which can dissolve enamel over time. If your child really loves sweet things, combine them with a meal or make sure they brush their teeth afterwards; you will be doing them a long-term favour if you resist the urge to treat, however. There has been a good deal of research done on the use of the sweetener xylitol in sweets for children and whether it can prevent tooth decay. Xylitol can’t be fermented by the plaque-causing bacteria in the mouth and so there is no subsequent acidification of the saliva in the mouth so (some researchers say) less decay of the enamel. This research is not 100% validated, but the sweets available quite tasty and if they might help then they are a good ally for the parent of a sweet-addicted child.

Flossing lessons

Flossing is a good habit to begin as early as possible but it is unrealistic to expect a young child to floss and it would be invasive and unpleasant to do it for them, as well as potentially damaging to young gums. There are toothbrushes for children on the market which floss while they brush and for children over three (when they usually have all of their teeth) they are a very good idea. When the second teeth start to appear (between 3 and 6 years old) then introducing flossing is essential. Plaque builds up when teeth touch and young children getting their second teeth sometimes suffer from a crowded mouth, though often temporarily.

Regular check-ups

A child’s mouth is always changing, as they grow and as they get new teeth. A regular check-up every six months at the very least is essential as problems need dealing with promptly. Make sure you choose a dentist who likes working with children – many dental phobias begin in childhood when the child is subjected to a dentist who is impatient or rough. Many people who end up with a fear of dentists complain that the dentist ‘told them off’ for poor dental hygiene. Make sure that the dentist is non-judgemental and addresses things like that to you as the parent, not the child. After all, no four year old is in charge of buying toothbrushes or handing out sweets! Most education authorities have their own dental service, but this doesn’t necessarily mean that the dentists working for them are good with children – try and make sure that you attend the consultations and if you are unhappy with the service, then speak to someone before the next appointment. Don’t get rushed into inappropriate treatment – the dentist is the expert, but you are the parent and if anything makes you feel uncomfortable, seek another opinion.

Teeth for life

There is a school of thought that says that teeth can always be replaced, so childhood dentistry is not important. It is of course true that these days almost anything can be corrected in a mouth, but as a responsible parent, you should make it your business to make sure that preventative dentistry plays as small a part in your child’s life as is humanly possible. Teaching good dental hygiene is a good step on that road.

The combination of bacteria and food causes acids to form which can slowly dissolve the teeth. If this happens, a filling may be needed. If it is left untreated, the tooth may decay further and need to be removed. Encourage your children to take care of their teeth properly. Click here and read the full article about preventing caries in children!